Family preparing to sue over Orange school principal's 'village idiots' comments

Tracey Prisk

The family of a child selected to take part in a workshop that Calare Public School principal Chris Cundy dubbed "Operation Nutcase" is preparing to sue the Orange school for defamation.

The grandfather of the child said the family, who wish to remain anonymous, made no secret of the fact that the girl had been pre-enrolled in one of the smaller workshops Mr Cundy subsequently said was reserved for "two-headed" participants.

"My daughter is besides herself about this, we feel like we're the scum of society because of the way he's spoken about my granddaughter," he said.

The man said the family was initially happy the school had offered students an opportunity to take part in the mental health and social skills workshop, and had been open about the child's enrolment.

"We were really pleased about this extra-curricular workshop and happy she was one of five selected to participate, and my daughter signed a permission note allowing her daughter to take part," he said.

"Now this has come out we are very angry, it would be different if the children hadn't already enrolled and been identified," he said.

"This is very serious and we're talking to our lawyers right now about suing them."